Official Report 1035KB pdf
Education and Skills
Good afternoon. The first item of business is portfolio question time. On this occasion the portfolio is education and skills. I advise members that there is considerable interest in supplementaries. If I am to get them in, they will need to be brief—no preambles or multiple questions—and the answers will need to be similarly brief.
Schools (Damage and Repair Costs)
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to manage and reduce damage and repair costs in schools. (S6O-05347)
Local authorities are responsible for the management of their school estate, including managing damage and repair. Although it is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to maintain their school estate, the Scottish Government continues to provide significant investment through the £2 billion learning estate investment programme.
The 2025 school estate statistics show that the proportion of school buildings in good or satisfactory condition has increased to 92 per cent, compared with 62.7 per cent in 2007 when this Government first came into office.
In the past five years, Aberdeen City Council has spent more than £1.2 million on repairing vandalism in schools, with annual costs more than doubling during that period. That mirrors the almost £8 million that is spent by councils across Scotland and points to a wider breakdown in behaviour and discipline. Does the cabinet secretary accept that her Government’s failure to support schools on behaviour and discipline is leaving councils to pick up a growing bill?
Mr Lumsden’s question has been informed by freedom of information data that has been gleaned by the Scottish Conservatives. If they are able to share that information with my office, I would like to interrogate it further with Aberdeen City Council because it is an important matter.
I also understand that we are not able to extrapolate from the data alone whether the vandalism was caused by young people. It is important that we do not demonise them by presuming that all vandalism has been carried out by young people themselves.
We are committed to improving relationships and behaviour in our schools. I have set out to members a range of measures that the Government has taken in that respect since 2023, not least in our approach to increasing and improving the number of teachers in our school, increasing funding for additional support needs measures and introducing the national action plan on behaviour and relationships.
The member raises an important point, and I will ask my officials to engage directly with Aberdeen City Council on the substantive point that he makes.
It was my forlorn hope that the Tories might have made a resolution to stop talking Scotland down in 2026. Does the cabinet secretary share my concern that there is an assumption that such issues are caused by children of school age and that they involve the majority of children? Is there a failure to focus on anything positive in our schools? What action is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that our schools are safe, welcoming and high-quality places for pupils and staff?
It is important that members from across the chamber do not seek to demonise the next generation of children and young people, who are the generation that lived through the Covid pandemic. When we talk about vandalism, we must not presume that it has all been caused by children and young people. In many instances, that will not have been the case.
In broader terms, there is much to celebrate in Scotland’s schools. Last month, official statistics showed the highest attainment levels on record in literacy and numeracy in our primary and secondary schools. There are more teachers, smaller class sizes, better pupil teacher ratios, more children attending school more regularly and a narrowing of the attainment gap in both primary and secondary schools.
With all that good news, I am sure that the Opposition has come back in this new year with a positive mindset, and is ready to celebrate and support Scotland’s educators, children and young people.
For more than two years, more than half of St Kentigern’s academy in Blackburn has been shut after deteriorating reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete rendered the building unsafe. More than 1,100 students have been crammed into half a school. West Lothian Council needs £15 million from the Scottish Government to complete the repairs and reopen the school. Will the cabinet secretary agree to reconsider its request, to ensure that children in Blackburn get the best out of St Kentigern’s without the council needing to borrow the money?
I have visited the school in question and seen the fantastic work that West Lothian Council is leading in response to the huge challenges facing its school estate, which I understand are a direct result of RAAC.
In the same way as many other local authorities have done, West Lothian Council has benefited from additionality from the Scottish Government for its school estate. However, I will continue to engage with the local authority on the issue, as I have done throughout the past year.
School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967 (Consultation)
To ask the Scottish Government how it will support young people to engage with the consultation on updating the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967. (S6O-05348)
The Scottish Government places the highest importance on listening to the voices of children and young people. We are committed to ensuring that they have the opportunity to engage fully with the consultation on proposals to update the school premises regulations.
The matter of the consultation was raised during my meeting with the Children’s Parliament last month. In advance of the consultation’s launch, my officials also met members of the Children’s Parliament to seek their views and have offered further engagement to support them in submitting a response to the consultation. In addition, my officials have written to the Scottish Youth Parliament to highlight that the consultation is now live and to encourage its participation. That input will help to ensure that the updated regulations reflect the needs and aspirations of Scotland’s children and young people.
It is so important that those who are directly affected by decisions and changes are included in discussions.
At the end of September 2025, the Scottish Government changed its “Supporting Transgender Pupils in Schools” guidance. The previous version said that trans pupils should be able to use toilets that align with their gender identity. The new guidance says that there must be separate single-sex toilets for boys and girls, with additional gender-neutral provision. Can the cabinet secretary outline how the segregation of young trans people ensures inclusion, safety and support for them? How will she ensure that trans pupils are safe, supported and included in schools throughout the consultation process?
As the member alluded to, at the end of last year, and in light of the Supreme Court ruling, the Government provided updated guidance on the issues that she has raised today. The consultation is separate to that, although the member has raised wider issues in relation to how we can support trans pupils in our schools. We are seeing rising levels of anxiety across the board at the current time. As cabinet secretary, I am mindful of that and have sought to engage with trade unions and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on those matters.
The consultation is broader than the issues that Maggie Chapman has raised today. For example, it considers issues such as ventilation and school site size, all of which should be considered in the mix of how we ensure that school design, in particular, is fit for purpose in delivering education.
College Sector Pay
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve pay in the college sector. (S6O-05349)
It is important to emphasise that the Scottish Government is not responsible for setting pay in the college sector, where pay, terms and conditions are negotiated by college employers and trade unions via voluntary national bargaining arrangements.
Despite the pressures on the public finances, the Scottish Government has demonstrated its commitment to staff in Scotland’s colleges by supporting pay deals for both lecturing and support staff. We have provided an additional £4.5 million for lecturers’ pay to support a four-year pay deal delivering a £5,000 consolidated pay rise in the first three years, as well as a further 4.14 per cent rise in 2025-26. Moreover, we have recently provided an additional sum of almost £5 million for support staff pay, which will support years 1 and 2 of a three-year pay deal delivering rises of 4.25 per cent in 2025-26, 3.4 per cent in 2026-27 and 3 per cent in 2027-28.
College Employers Scotland is set to impose a pay agreement on workers across colleges, despite failing to secure support from staff and trade unions in the sector. In a vote among GMB union members, 85 per cent chose to reject the proposed pay offer, which the union warns is a real-terms pay cut in disguise. With that sitting alongside a 7 per cent cut in staffing across the sector, is it not clear that Scotland’s college workers deserve both fair pay and security of employment from the Scottish Government?
Our support staff play an important role across our education sector, including in our colleges. I had a school support staff role myself earlier in my working life, which is why, since coming into my current role, I have been pleased to work with the college sector and trade unions to agree the support staff pay deal that I mentioned in my first answer. It is important to recognise that that has been accepted by the trade unions as a whole. However, I note the position of the GMB, which has written to me directly. I have committed to meeting that union and look forward to that discussion.
We have time for a couple of supplementary questions as long as they are brief.
The contribution of staff in Scotland’s colleges to education and society is hugely valued. How is the Scottish Government encouraging constructive discussion between staff and employers?
I absolutely agree with the sentiment that the member has expressed, and I put on the record again the Scottish Government’s gratitude to staff in Scotland’s colleges for the invaluable contribution that they make. We deeply value the contribution of all our colleges to local communities and the wider Scottish economy, which could not be achieved without the commitment of staff throughout the sector. We have been pleased to hear of improved industrial relations in the sector and we commend the efforts that have been made to foster and take forward those positive and constructive industrial relations.
Since 2021, Scottish Government investment in colleges has fallen by 20 per cent, leading to 12 per cent fewer students and nearly 9 per cent fewer staff. As well as the reduction in core funding, individual funding streams have been withdrawn, including the promised £26 million for transformation and £10 million for a flexible workforce development fund. What discussions have ministers now had with colleges that are expressing that they have severe and deteriorating financial situations? What support will the Government give them?
In recent times, since I came into post and through the work of my predecessor and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, we have engaged significantly on questions of budget and finance with both Colleges Scotland, on behalf of the sector, and individual colleges. In that engagement and our engagement with ministerial colleagues, we have sought to emphasise the case for the college sector, given its contributions to the economy and local communities, as well as its contribution to individuals who are enriched and improve their life circumstances through studying at college.
The Scottish Government’s budget, which will be published on 13 January, will set out the Government’s spending in different areas. I look forward to the Scottish Conservatives, including Miles Briggs, voting for that budget.
Schools (Pupil Attendance)
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve pupil attendance in schools. (S6O-05350)
The Scottish Government is committed to improving school attendance and we have intensified our support for schools and local authorities. Education Scotland is providing bespoke support in areas where attendance remains a challenge. Its improving attendance quality improvement programme offers tailored support, with 16 councils being engaged and a third cohort starting this month. In October, we ran a national campaign with Parent Club to help families to address underlying issues that affect attendance and ensure that pupils return to, engage with and benefit from their learning.
I am greatly encouraged that we have now seen improvements in attendance and reductions in persistent absence for two consecutive years. We will update our national attendance guidance in spring 2026 to further support improvements in attendance.
Data shows that, since 2019-20, more than 73,000 pupils have missed at least half of their schooling, with more than 6,000 not attending school at all. Persistent absence not only impacts on children’s educational experience; it risks long-term harm to their education and wellbeing. Will the cabinet secretary accept that urgent national action is required and that the Scottish National Party Government has failed to act with urgency on the issue?
I very much share the sentiment behind what Meghan Gallacher has set out in the chamber today. However, I draw the Parliament’s attention to the most recent statistics, which, in the member’s Central Scotland region, show improvements in attendance in Falkirk, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire. In relation to persistent absence—the Government introduced that new measurement two years ago, I think, because we did not previously have that data set and we thought that it was important that we gathered it—we have seen decreases of 3.7 per cent in Falkirk, 2.3 per cent in North Lanarkshire and 3 per cent in South Lanarkshire. That is welcome. We are on a trajectory of improvement.
However, I accept the member’s challenge on the overall issues that have been experienced in relation to attendance. I set out some of the work that Education Scotland is taking forward, which includes tailored, intensive support for local authorities where there are issues. A small percentage of pupils—I think that the figure was 2.4 per cent in 2024-25—have very low attendance. We know that incredibly complex factors underpin that, which can relate to factors such as anxiety and additional support needs, and that is why we have tasked Education Scotland with providing that tailored support. The new chief inspector will also have a key role to play in relation to the improvement that Meghan Gallacher called for, but it is being delivered at the current time, as our national statistics show.
Grooming Gangs and Sexual Exploitation
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to protect young people from grooming gangs and sexual exploitation. (S6O-05351)
We are committed to ensuring that robust protection measures are in place to protect children and young people from sexual exploitation.
We published revised national child protection guidance back in 2023, and we are rolling out national training of interagency referral discussions to support local services and professionals. Those vital discussions bring together partners to share information, assess risk and agree a safety plan following a reported concern about a child. I also announced additional funding to third sector organisations and Police Scotland on 17 December 2025 to support the protection of children from sexual exploitation.
Grooming gangs are organised, co-ordinated and calculated in their exploitation, abuse and rape of vulnerable children. Recent Scottish Conservative freedom of information requests show that the Scottish Government does not hold a national picture on where high-risk, group-based sexual offenders are being supervised. Those predators work together to target children.
In the same way that we know where offenders of serious organised crimes are located, we should know where networked grooming gang members are and what they are doing. Will the cabinet secretary commit to tracking those offenders in the same way that serious organised crime members are tracked? Will she facilitate a meeting to allow us to discuss that with the serious organised crime task force?
Mr Gulhane raises a very important matter. I am aware that Opposition party leaders and spokespeople have been invited to next week’s round-table meeting with Police Scotland and Professor Alexis Jay. I do not think that Mr Gulhane has been invited yet, but I extend an invitation to him today, because responses to the issues that he raises would be better provided by an update from Police Scotland and Professor Alexis Jay in relation to their work.
There is a broader issue in relation to the evidence base, which might lead to further inquiries at the end of the parliamentary session, as I have alluded to previously. However, it is important that the evidence base is substantiated by the wider work of the review that I committed to earlier in December. If Mr Gulhane would like to engage with the wider work that Professor Alexis Jay and Police Scotland are leading on, I suggest that, if he is able to attend the meeting next week, he would benefit from the update that will be shared then. He raised important issues, and I agree with him on them.
Efforts to protect children and young people from harm are a priority for all members. How is the Scottish Government working to ensure that support for survivors is trauma informed and accessible?
As I alluded to in my response in December, I announced further funding to provide free access to online harm e-learning. Ensuring that survivors can access the support that they need is key. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs and I wrote to the cross-party group on adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, because we want to hear more from the wide range of survivors that it represents about how we can ensure that they can access a range of support and that our approach is trauma informed and accessible, which was the member’s substantive point.
Question 6 is from Fergus Ewing.
Touch Typing
Deputy Presiding Officer, I apologise that I have to leave after I ask my question and hear answers to any supplementary questions. I have a committee meeting to attend. I am grateful for your dispensation.
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to devise, and deliver to every school pupil, a programme that provides the opportunity to learn how to touch type. (S6O-05352)
Typing qualifications and free-to-access programmes that are aimed at developing touch-typing skills are already available for pupils, and it is for individual schools to decide what to offer, reflecting their local priorities.
The curriculum improvement cycle will ensure that Scotland’s curriculum remains forward looking, reflects the needs of today’s children and young people and supports high-quality teaching and learning. The review of the technologies curriculum, which includes computing science and consideration of digital skills as a cross-curricular theme, is under way, and a draft evolved curriculum technical framework is due for publication in summer 2026.
That rather long answer seems to be a synonym for the word “no”. Does the minister accept touch typing is a skill that aids productivity, speed and accuracy of communication, and that it is more relevant now than ever, as just about every type of employment requires people to communicate effectively? Learning to touch type is compulsory in other countries, such as the USA, Australia and Canada. Is it the biggest failure of a Parliament not to provide children with opportunities? If we do not make it compulsory, children will be denied an opportunity that could enhance their life for ever.
I absolutely agree with some of the points that Mr Ewing raised, and he made an extremely important point when he highlighted the importance of being digitally literate and having the skills that are required to grasp career opportunities in the 21st century. As I said, those resources are already available for local schools, and it is for them to decide, based on what is best for their area.
I will add to my previous response. Work to improve the technologies curriculum, as part of the curriculum improvement cycle, is now under way. That will provide an opportunity for us to consider further the knowledge, understanding, skills and practical activities that children and young people need to develop to ensure that they can grasp career opportunities in the 21st century. As part of the curriculum improvement cycle, cross-curricular themes, such as digital skills and entrepreneurship, will be clarified, strengthened and embedded in the curriculum. The use of digital technology, of which the use of touch typing is particularly relevant, is a key aspect of the digital skills cross-curricular theme.
I see that my plea at the start of proceedings has fallen on somewhat deaf ears in parts of the chamber. I will try to get the supplementaries in, but the questions will need to be brief, as will the responses, and that will be the same going forward.
The minister mentioned digital literacy. I remember learning, some 30 years ago, to touch type on software that would be unrecognisable now. Digital literacy is really important. My city of Dundee is renowned for its digital success.
Please ask a question.
What more are we doing to use online educational tools to support digital literacy, which is so important?
As one example, in 2025-26, we are providing £71,000 in funding to Time for Inclusive Education, to further develop its digital discourse initiative. That free resource is available to schools to teach students to assess sources, fact check and spot false or prejudicial content. The digital discourse initiative also includes an online teacher-training module covering social media disinformation, hate speech, extremism, radicalisation, strategies for countering disinformation and a number of other aspects. The Scottish Government also funds the national e-learning offer, which provides a range of resources to support learning across the curriculum.
The ministers are making a huge mistake by dismissing Fergus Ewing’s serious suggestion as lightly as they are, because touch typing and keyboard skills are critical to productivity. We have 550 computing science teachers in Scotland right now, which is the lowest that it has been for five years.
Please ask a question.
That is 28 per cent down on the number in post when the Scottish National Party came to power.
Please ask a question.
My question is this: how many computing science teachers are currently in training?
That is not directly relevant to the topic, but the minister may answer.
I would have to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to write to Mr Kerr with the specific details. However, as Mr Kerr knows, we have invested in our teachers and in teacher training.
Modern Apprenticeships
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Skills Development Scotland to discuss the development of new modern apprenticeships. (S6O-05353)
The Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland officials are members of the apprenticeship approvals group, which is an employer-led group of industry experts and key stakeholders. The AAG meets monthly to approve new and revised Scottish apprenticeships and to understand demand for new apprenticeships. That includes ensuring that any framework that is submitted for approval has undergone extensive industry consultation and is supported by clear evidence of sector demand.
The minister will be aware that I have been highlighting the lack of regulation covering the pet service sector, particularly pet grooming. After engaging with several agencies on the practicalities of that, the general consensus is that the standards of those offering pet services could negate the need for regulation.
Consequently, will the Scottish Government commit to engaging with qualifications Scotland and SDS to consider the development of modern apprenticeships for young people seeking a career in pet grooming, as it would appear that only three colleges in Scotland currently offer such a qualification?
With regard to that and other areas, we welcome the opportunity to look at expanding the range of available apprenticeships, where appropriate.
Apprenticeships in Scotland support key sectors and are demand led. The development of any new modern apprenticeship framework would require clear evidence of employer demand, alongside a strong case that an apprenticeship is the most appropriate training route. Skills Development Scotland works closely with industry to assess demand and can support the development of new frameworks, where appropriate. I encourage Mr McMillan to engage further with Skills Development Scotland and others in the sector. SDS can offer guidance on what options are available.
Last year, 9,000 fewer apprenticeships in colleges and industry were asked for at a time when one in eight young people were out of work. This Government promised recovery from the pandemic. Does the minister not recognise that the hollowing out of colleges and not returning apprenticeship numbers to pre-pandemic levels is an abject failure of that promise?
This Government regularly emphasises the importance of our college sector and apprenticeships. Last year, more than 25,000 people started a modern apprenticeship in Scotland. This year, we are providing £185 million to support 25,500 new modern apprenticeships, 5,000 new foundation apprenticeships and more than 1,200 new graduate apprenticeships. We are also continuing to provide support for more than 38,000 apprentices who are already in training, as at 26 September 2025.
We appreciate that there is growing demand for apprenticeships. We are working with industry and the college sector on how we can build on that success. We have a successful picture in Scotland. Let us work together to make it even better.
Teacher Numbers
To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting local authorities to maintain and increase teacher numbers. (S6O-05354)
Since 2014, teacher numbers have increased by more than 2,700, as a result of investment from the Scottish Government. We provided additional funding of £41 million in this year’s budget, which uplifted the ring-fenced funding to protect teacher numbers to £186.5 million. As a result of that increased funding, the census data that was published in December shows an overall increase in the number of teachers for the first time since 2022.
Ministers will point to a slight increase, but the reality is that teacher numbers fell in half of Scotland’s local authorities last year, despite repeated promises to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels. With the threat of industrial action looming, what measures can be put in place to restore confidence and teacher numbers as a matter of urgency across all local authorities?
I thank Mr Stewart for his interest in teacher numbers, but I have to observe that, in Fife, which is part of his region, teacher numbers fell by 49. As the member may recall, Fife Council is led by the Labour Party—despite the Scottish National Party being the largest party, we are locked out of power—and it depends very much on the votes of Conservative councillors.
I recall listening to a colleague of Alexander Stewart’s at an Educational Institute of Scotland hustings not long ago giving an assurance to parents and carers that she would not have voted for Fife Council’s budget had she thought that it would lead to a cut in teacher numbers, but that is exactly what has happened. Fife Council has taken the money and has cut teacher numbers. I do not think that that is particularly credible. I am sure that Mr Stewart would agree with that position, and I am sure that his council colleagues will be thinking very seriously about whether they can continue to support Fife Labour in cutting teacher numbers while it has had additionality from this Government.
I have set out the extra funding that has come from the Government. Of course, budget negotiations are on-going, and I am sure that the Conservatives will be looking carefully at the extra funding for teacher numbers, to protect those numbers, and welcoming the fact that, for the first time since 2022, teacher numbers have increased.
I am conscious that ministerial responses have been on the long side. I want to protect the opportunity for back benchers to ask questions, but they will have to be brief, as will the responses.
The SNP Government is increasing teacher numbers, attainment and attendance. How is the record funding for education, which I note that the member who asked the original question did not vote for, ensuring that the pupil to teacher ratio continues to improve and is comparatively better than elsewhere in the United Kingdom?
The Scottish Government’s investment means that, in Scotland, we have the most teachers per pupil in the UK and that school education spend per person is higher than it is elsewhere in the UK. Since 2009-10, school spending per pupil in Scotland has increased by 21 per cent in real terms, and, in 2024-25, the Government invested £10,100 per pupil, compared with £8,400 in England. As a result, Scotland’s pupil to teacher ratio has improved to 13.2, remaining by far the lowest in the UK. I accept that there is clearly more to do to deliver equity and excellence in Scottish education, but the investment that this Government is making is ensuring that Scotland’s children and young people have the best conditions for learning anywhere in the UK.
I thought that the cabinet secretary would be a bit more exercised about the fact that we are on the verge of teachers going on strike and schools being shut at the end of January because of this Government’s failure to deliver 3,500 extra teachers and cut teacher contact time by 90 minutes. What response does she have for members and for teachers out there who are desperate for answers?
Mr Rennie is another Fife MSP. His Liberal Democrat colleagues supported the Labour budget that I spoke about earlier, which took extra money from this Government and led to a reduction in Fife of 49 teachers.
I do not think that it is credible to come to the chamber and say that, Mr Rennie. Mr Rennie voted for a budget to increase and maintain teacher numbers, and his Fife Council councillor colleagues have voted for cuts to reduce teacher numbers. That is not credible at all in relation to how our democracy works.
More broadly, we have provided additionality for teacher numbers. On industrial action, we will continue to work with our teaching trade union colleagues—I met them only this morning—to ensure that we get a resolution to that dispute.
Thank you very much indeed. That concludes portfolio questions. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business.